The Arkansas Living Treasure program annually recognizes, honors and celebrates masters of traditional crafts and/or folk arts in Arkansas with the goal of highlighting and preserving Arkansas's unique heritage, identity, culture and history. Nationwide traditional crafts and folk arts are fading away, but this award helps spotlight the significance of creatives working in this field while also perpetuating and sustaining craft and folk traditions in Arkansas.
The award recognizes the lifetime achievements and contributions to heritage arts and crafts of Arkansas. The chosen individual is worthy of statewide recognition because of their mastery and dedication to perpetuating their chosen traditional craft or folk art.
Since April 2024, the program has changed to include a $5,000 award, along with a recognition ceremony held in May or June. Applicants who have earned an Individual Artist Fellowship award are not eligible.
NOMINATIONS OPEN NOV. 1 AND CLOSE JAN. 10, 2025. Individual artists who received an Individual Artist Fellowship award after 2023 are not eligible.
The Arkansas Arts Council is pleased to recognize Liton Beasa (right) as the 2024 Arkansas Living Treasure for his work and dedication to the craft of canoe carving. Director Patrick Ralston (left) presented the award in April 2024.
Read MoreTraditional craft and folk arts are rooted in and reflective of the culture, heritage, history, traditions and life of communities in Arkansas. Communities share common history and geographic location and can share ethnicity, religion and language. Traditional crafts and folk arts reflect these communities and include, but are not limited to, pottery, bladesmithing, metalworking, blacksmithing, knife-making, quilting, basketweaving, woodworking, traditional dancing, traditional oral expression and weaving or textile work.
1. Living in Arkansas at least one year at the time of nomination.
2. Have longstanding histories of quality traditional crafts or folk arts in their communities.
3. Show mastery of traditional craft or traditional folk arts.
4. Have contributed to the perpetuation of their chosen craft or traditional art. Contributions include perpetuating folk arts or traditional craft through advocacy, visibility, academic teaching and organizing participation, e.g., festivals and events. Creatives also can meet these criteria through one-on-one education, apprenticeships, mentorships, leading informal groups or creating informal learning opportunities that connect youth or younger generations with a traditional folk art or traditional craft.
5. Creating work that has heritage, historical or cultural significance that is rooted in or part of Arkansas.
6. Current Arkansas Arts Council Advisory Board members and staff of the Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism or their immediate families are not eligible to nominate or be nominated. Posthumous nominations will not be accepted.
7. Recipients of an Individual Artist Fellowship award after 2023 are not eligible.
Fill out the nomination form to the right. Or, nomination forms may be printed and mailed to 1100 North St., Little Rock, AR, 72201. No self nominations are accepted.
1. Provide a physical creation representing the best of their craft or traditional art. OR, if the nominee is a performing traditional folk artist, please provide a video showing skill and mastery. Links to videos for performing works should be included in a resume or portfolio. Video should be under 10 minutes.
2. A detailed resume that shows lifetime achievement
3. A portfolio (pdf or PowerPoint accepted) with at least 20 images of labeled works (title, media, date, method). The portfolio must include a narrative statement. Creatives may turn in a video or audio clip in addition to or instead of the narrative statement. Any video submitted should not exceed 10 minutes. The portfolio and/or videos should show the nominee’s abilities, methods, techniques and influences, while also explaining how the work is tied to Arkansas.
- All nominees should answer the following questions in their submitted materials:
- How and when did you learn your traditional folk art or craft?
- How have you contributed to the preservation or promotion of your craft/traditional art?
- What connection does your craft/traditional art have to Arkansas history, culture, heritage or identity?
- Why should you receive this recognition? What makes you a master of your traditional craft or folk arts?
Video components should be submitted as links inside the resume, artist statement and/or portfolio. Please leave the URL links complete and unaltered in case the link gets broken. The Arkansas Arts Council cannot use or accept thumb drives, DVDs or CDs.
1. Portfolio with up to 20 images with labels (time, place, title, media, etc.), a resume, narrative statement and/or video (A 6 to 10 minute video can substitute for your artist artist statement/narrative. If you are a performing traditional artist a video may substitute the portfolio.)
2. Deliver an example work to Arkansas Heritage at 1100 North St., Little Rock, AR, 72201. We accept mailed-in works.
1. Nominations for the Arkansas Living Treasure Award open Nov. 1 and close Jan. 10, 2025.
2. Nominees will be contacted by Jan. 13, 2025, about whether they plan to proceed by submitting the required resume, portfolio and artist narrative. A video is optional.
3. Nominees have until Feb. 10 to deliver an example of their original work to the Arkansas Arts Council at 1100 North St. in Little Rock, AR, 72201. Nominees will be asked to sign a general release form for their artwork. The work will be reviewed by an independent panel.
4. Panelists will meet by the first week in April.
5. Notifications will be sent out in April with the announcement of the 2025 Arkansas Living Treasure going public during the James Black's Bowie Heritage Festival in Old Washington.
6. Nominees should pick up or have their work mailed back to them (at cost) between mid-April and July 2025. Arrangements for picking up work can be made via email at [email protected].
It will not be accepted. Traditional craft is functional. Contemporary craft uses heritage techniques but can be nonfunctional. If your work is not functional, you may be interested in applying for our Individual Artist Fellowship Award in the category of Contemporary Craft.
Yes, we can provide technical assistance and help for your submission, including a video. To add a video, you will need to shoot a video (using your phone works great), then upload the video to a shareable platform, such as GoogleDrive, YouTube or DropBox. Alternatively, you can add the video to social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram but make sure it’s publicly accessible. The video does not need to be professional, but it should have hearable audio. After you create the video (no editing required) and upload it to a free platform, you can add the shareable link to your video to your portfolio or resume. You may substitute your video for your artist statement. To do this, simply copy and past the URL location and put it into your document before you save it. We recommend every nominee do at least some video showcasing their techniques.
Since 2002, the Arkansas Arts Council has recognized Arkansas Living Treasures, Arkansas artisans who excel in the practice of a traditional craft and who have passed the tradition on to the next generation.